Tag Archives: Tristan L’Hermite

Episode 268. Will Parker Redux

June 26, 2024Art Song, Great Baritones, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Queer Pride, Twentieth Century MusicAaron Copland, André Emelianoff, Banalités, Benjamin Hudson, Billy Budd, Carol Zeavin, Charles Wakefield Cadman, Claude Debussy, Columbia String Quartet, Elly Ameling, Ernst Bacon, Francis Poulenc, Georg Friedrich Daumer, Gerard van Blerk, Guillaume Apollinaire, Herman Melville, Janet Hill, Johannes Brahms, John Jacob Niles, Le promenoir des deux amants, Norman Shetler, Old American Songs, Robert Evett, Rudolf Jansen, Thomas Merton, Tristan L’Hermite, Virgil Blackwell, William Huckaby, William Parkercountermelody

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Today I revisit the life and legacy of lyric baritone William Parker (05 August 1943 – 29 March 1993), to whom I devoted an episode exactly a year ago. To further explore his unmatched contribution to the art of song, I present a second episode which was originally published as a bonus episode at the same time, featuring Will in four contrasting song cycles by Charles Wakefield Cadman, Claude Debussy, Aaron Copland, and Francis Poulenc, recorded between 1975 and 1987, when he was in his absolute prime. He is accompanied by William Huckaby, Gérard van Blerk, and the late Rudolf Jansen. Also included are two haunting settings of Herman Melville’s “Billy in the Darbies,” a segment added posthumously to his Billy Budd novella; in two settings by Robert Evett and Ernst Bacon. The episode is prefaced by a brief tribute to the pianist Norman Shetler, who died yesterday in Austria nine days after observing his 93rd birthday; as well as a brief introduction by Will Parker’s nephew, Mark Doty.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available exclusively to Patreon supporters are currently available and further bonus content including interviews and livestreams is planned for the upcoming season.

Episode 248. Thomas Bagwell Introduces Bernard Kruysen (Listeners’ Favorites)

March 8, 2024Art Song, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, Interview, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersBanalités (Poulenc), Bernard Kruysen, Charles d’Orléans, Claude Debussy, Edmond Rostand, Emmanuel Chabrier, Felix de Nobel, Francis Poulenc, Gabriel Faure, Guillaume Apollinaire, Heinrich Heine, Helmut Kahlhöfer, Helmut Winschermann, Jan Mul, Jean-Charles Richard, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Marx, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Ivanovich Grekov, Nikolaus Lenau, Noël Lee, Norman Treigle, Paul Heyse, Quirinus van Blankenburg, Robert Schumann, Stéphane Mallarmé, Tami Petty, Thomas Bagwell, Tristan L’Hermitecountermelody

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One of my best and truest friends in the business is the phenomenal pianist, coach, and conductor Thomas Bagwell. Our friendship really developed back in the days when we curated a series of recitals for the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, which Thomas also (brilliantly) accompanied. Since then we are both carving out different lives for ourselves on the other side of the pond, me as your intrepid Berlin-based podcaster, and Thomas as a valued coach and conductor on the music staff of the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. Thomas is no doubt remembered by my listeners for his scintillating commentary on my Marni Nixon tribute episode last season. Years ago there was one a peculiar Facebook questionnaire about what would be the last thing you grabbed as you fled your burning home and Thomas answered, “My Bernard Kruysen records.” At that time, I knew the Dutch singer Bernard Kruysen (1933-2000) by name only but I had no clear idea of who he was as an artist. Because of Thomas’s enthusiasm, however, I began my own collection of Bernard Kruysen recordings, from which followed this episode, first heard in 2021, so it is only appropriate that Thomas should be reintroducing this episode today. Bernard Kruysen’s voice exemplifies that now nearly extinct vocal category, the baryton martin. I discuss just what constitutes a baryton martin and why in his prime Kruysen such was an ideal representative. I also discuss the larger question of the performance of the French art song, the mélodie, and why Kruysen was also exceptional in this regard, using as an example his 1960s recorded performances of three complete song cycles by Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, and Francis Poulenc. I also feature the artist singing art songs by Schumann and Mussorgsky and works by Bach, Quirinus van Blankenburg, and Jan Mul. Thomas’s introduction is prefaced with a live recording from those Lotte Lehmann Foundation concerts back in 2011, this one featuring our phenomenal friend, spinto soprano Tami Petty.

Episode 112. Barry McDaniel

October 24, 2021Art Song, Bel canto, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Queer Pride, Schubert, Twentieth Century MusicAgnes Giebel, Alfredo Kraus, Ariadne auf Naxos, Aribert Reimann, Arlene Saunders, Arthur Rother, Barry McDaniel, Brooks Smith, Carl Millöcker, Carl Orff, Carmina Burana, Christoph von Dohnányi, Claude Debussy, David Knutson, Der junge Lord, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Die schweigsame Frau, Eberhard Finke, Edita Gruberová, Enrique Beck, Ernest Lush, Ernst Haefliger, Ernst Krukowski, Évariste de Parny, Federico García Lorca, Ferdinand Leitner, Fidelio, Franz Schubert, Frederik Prausnitz, Friedrich Hebbel, Fritz Hoppe, Fritz Werner, Gerhard Unger, Gioacchino Rossini, Hans Werner Henze, Heinz Wallberg, Helmut Krebs, Hermann Reutter, Horst Stein, Hugo Wolf, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ingeborg Bachmann, Italienisches Liederbuch, Ivan Sardi, Johann Gabriel Seidl, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Jacob Niles, Joseph von Eichendorff, Karl Böhm, Karl Hochreither, Karlheinz Zoeller, Kurt Böhme, Kurt Equiluz, La finta giardiniera, Lear (Reimann), Leopold Hager, Ludwig van Beethoven, Luigi Dallapiccola, Mack Harrell, Manfred Jungwirth, Manfred Röhrl, Matthäus-Passion, Maurice Ravel, Murilo Mendes, Pierre Pierlot, Richard Strauss, Robert Schumann, Robert Spillman, Stefan Zweig, Tristan L’Hermite, Wilhelm Müller, Winterreise, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Sawallischcountermelody

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This past week would have been the 91st birthday of Barry McDaniel (1930-2018), the great US-American Berlin-based lyric baritone whose artistry encompassed opera, oratorio (particularly the music of Bach), art song (particularly Lieder), and contemporary music, as well as delicious forays into operetta. This episode celebrates all aspects of this exceptionally fine singer, whose immediately recognizable voice, allied to a firm technique, superb diction, superior musicianship, and devotion to his craft yielded finely-hewn, distinctively inflected performances in a career which spanned nearly fifty years. The episode features him singing music of Strauss, Bach, Rossini, Schubert, Reimann, Ravel, Henze, Rossini, Mozart, Debussy, Millöcker and more. Vocal guest stars include Alfredo Kraus, Agnes Giebel, Kurt Böhme, Arlene Saunders, Mack Harrell (who was McDaniel’s teacher), and Edita Gruberová, to whom we pay especial tribute after her tragic death early last week.

Episode 109. Bernard Kruysen: Baryton Martin Extroardinaire

October 3, 2021Art Song, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersBanalités (Poulenc), Bernard Kruysen, Carlisle Floyd, Charles d’Orléans, Claude Debussy, Die tote Stadt, Edmond Rostand, Emmanuel Chabrier, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Felix de Nobel, Francis Poulenc, Gabriel Faure, Gian Carlo Menotti, Guillaume Apollinaire, Heinrich Heine, Heinrich Hollreiser, Helmut Kahlhöfer, Helmut Winschermann, James King, Jan Mul, Jean-Charles Richard, Johann Sebastian Bach, Karan Armstrong, Mary Mills, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Ivanovich Grekov, Nikolaus Lenau, Noël Lee, Norman Treigle, Quirinus van Blankenburg, Robert Schumann, Stéphane Mallarmé, Susannah (Floyd), Tristan L’Hermitecountermelody

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Today I celebrate the life and artistry of Bernard Kruysen (1933-2000), the Dutch singer whose voice exemplified that now nearly extinct vocal category, the baryton martin. I discuss just what constitutes a baryton martin and why in his prime Kruysen such was an ideal representative. I also discuss the larger question of the performance of the French art song, the mélodie, and why Kruysen was also exceptional in this regard, using as an example his 1960s recorded performances of three complete song cycles by Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, and Francis Poulenc. I also feature the artist singing art songs by Schumann and Mussorgsky and works by Bach, Quirinus van Blankenburg, and Jan Mul. The episode also includes tributes to recently departed artists Karan Armstrong (singing Korngold and Menotti) and Carlisle Floyd (in performances of his work by Mary Mills and Norman Treigle).

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. And please head to my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available exclusively to Patreon supporters are currently available.